Student’s speech honors mother just in time

By Carolyn Alford

Published: Sunday, May 5, 2013 at 02:00 PM.

“I admire my mom because she puts others first and she puts herself second. She helps others by giving money and food to the homeless people. What I learned from my mom is to stay positive and strong. When my mom is going through things like seizures, I wonder in my head why did you let this happen? Sometimes I feel sad and mad at the same time but I always stay strong and positive for my mom!”

There was silence in the multipurpose room when Chyzaeya finished. Everyone was moved by the heartfelt story of a child dealing with her mother’s illness.

I thought often about Chyzaeya and her mother and prayed for the family. On April 8, I saw Nyjah’s obituary in this newspaper. It broke my heart for those three girls.

The girls are now living with their grandmother Carolyn Lightfoot and have gone back to
Bell
Fork
Elementary School
. During a visit, Chyzaeya said, “I will miss her love. To honor her memory, I will do good in school and not do sneaky things.”

On this Mother’s Day, celebrate your mom. Please remember these girls and all of us who have lost a mother. It is a space that is never filled. Please remember also those mothers that have lost a child.

I have a new granddaughter Sophia so her mom Desiree is a mother for the first time. That is an exciting time. Happy first Mother’s Day.

On March 8, teacher Claire Zawistowski invited me to SummersillElementary School to judge the Modern Woodmen of America school speech contest. I have judged this contest for a few years now and I always enjoy hearing the fifth graders. This year’s topic was “A person who has overcome.” Student Chyzaeya Mathis wrote about her mother:

“My mother is Nyjah Sessoms. She is 31 years old and she has Lupus. Lupus is a disease that can affect parts of the body such as the skin, joints, blood and kidneys. It can also affect the most important organ, the heart. The disease never goes away. My mother was diagnosed with Lupus in 2003. She knew something was wrong before she found out the disease she had. Things started happening like strands of hair falling out and swelling in hands and ankles. She was devastated when she went to the doctor and they told her what she had. Things went good until the year 2012. That was when I saw her having seizures.

“One day on a Saturday morning, I was asleep in my room and my little sister Liberty Mathis was sleeping with my Mom. I was enjoying a nice dream until Liberty came in and said, “Zae come help me. Mom is on the floor making a groaning noise.” I went in there and her lip was busted and there was blood on the floor and on her suitcase. I was holding her by the shoulder because she was trying to get up herself but she kept on banging her head on the wall. Finally my older sister woke up and called the ambulance. My Mom came out of the seizure but they still took her to the hospital. I was shocked that I actually was there when my Mom was having a seizure

“Later that day she came back home but she had the jumps. My sisters and I call it the jumps because her muscles would tighten up and whatever she had in her hands fell. It was 8:10 p.m. when she came back home and the jumps were happening 30 seconds apart, one after the other. All she could do was calm me down because I was scared. She kept saying things like, “I am OK” but I wouldn’t believe it. Something was telling me something wasn’t right. My older sister and I tried to help her but she jumped and almost fell. She said, “I am alright,” but I still didn’t believe it. We got her on the bed and it was her last jump before she started shaking. While she was shaking, she was slowly sliding off the bed. My little sister was there the whole time helping my Mom through it. I ran across the street to my older sister’s grandmother’s house. My older sister called the paramedics and they took her away again. I couldn’t eat or sleep because she wasn’t home. That was the worst day of my life.

“We went to see her at the hospital. She was in the Intensive Care Unit. She kept asking was she going home and sadly, we had to tell her no. She got emotional and so did I. She had short term memory loss. If she didn’t stop having seizures, she would be like that for the rest of her life. I knew something was wrong because she wasn’t herself. Everyone was sad and scared but she was always positive. She has been to the hospital so many times it’s impossible for me to count. Everything is good now. She has been taking medications to help her not have seizures. She takes a pill called Vimput. She also goes to dialysis on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays for six hours a day!

“I admire my mom because she puts others first and she puts herself second. She helps others by giving money and food to the homeless people. What I learned from my mom is to stay positive and strong. When my mom is going through things like seizures, I wonder in my head why did you let this happen? Sometimes I feel sad and mad at the same time but I always stay strong and positive for my mom!”

There was silence in the multipurpose room when Chyzaeya finished. Everyone was moved by the heartfelt story of a child dealing with her mother’s illness.

I thought often about Chyzaeya and her mother and prayed for the family. On April 8, I saw Nyjah’s obituary in this newspaper. It broke my heart for those three girls.

The girls are now living with their grandmother Carolyn Lightfoot and have gone back to BellForkElementary School. During a visit, Chyzaeya said, “I will miss her love. To honor her memory, I will do good in school and not do sneaky things.”

On this Mother’s Day, celebrate your mom. Please remember these girls and all of us who have lost a mother. It is a space that is never filled. Please remember also those mothers that have lost a child.

I have a new granddaughter Sophia so her mom Desiree is a mother for the first time. That is an exciting time. Happy first Mother’s Day.

The rest of the story

I wrote the story about Louis Shields in today’s paper. The comment about Louis from Billy Mills and the Rev. John Kerr, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Jacksonville, did not get to me in time for the story because the Rev. Kerr was ill and Billy was on vacation.

Borrowing words that Louis had used about another, the Rev. Kerr said of Louis, “some people build a life but he built a community as well,”

Louis and his late wife Martha have been pillars of the church, the Rev. Kerr said. Louis has been a ruling elder, a deacon and a trustee. “Louis has never known a stranger, I don’t think, and has known everyone who has come through our doors over the years. He always has a smile and a good word for everyone. I looked forward to seeing him each and every week (and sometimes more often), and I must say that I miss him now that he’s living in Wilmington.”

“He has meant a whole lot to a lot of folks,” his old friend Billy Mills said. Among those, Billy said Louis was a stabilizing force in the Democratic Party and is greatly missed. He provided continuity to the college, the board of trustees, the health department and was a strong supporter of the nursing program at CoastalCarolinaCommunity College.

“Louis is a good businessman and a good trustee. OnslowCounty will miss him tremendously. He is on the OnslowCounty side of Wilmington so friends can still go by and visit and call on him. I plan to stay in touch with him”

The Mills have a new great grandson, William Donald Mills IV. Billy joked that they only need one more Williams Donald Mills for a basketball team. Congratulations. They don’t call them great and grand for nothing.